


Pathways - Your actions will have consequences in the future!

by Eluvian



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Because That is Not te Fixed Reality, Connor Saves Hank Anderson, Decisions, Fantasy flavour, Gen, Hank Anderson & Connor Friendship, Hank Anderson Commits Suicide, New Pathways in the Zen Garden, On the Run Chapter (Detroit: Become Human), Poor Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Possible outcomes, Protective Connor, Protective Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Responsibility, Shocked Connor, You have a choice, Zen Garden (Detroit: Become Human), but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-19 09:54:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22342363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eluvian/pseuds/Eluvian
Summary: Connor is in the Zen Garden. He finds some new paths that were not there before. Curiously he explores them.The paths show the consequences of his possible decisions.
Relationships: Hank Anderson & Connor
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

Connor closed his eyes.

Connor opened his eyes, his visual sensors were flooded by shades of pink, green and blue.

Silence. Birds flew over him, always in the same pattern. One day he'd sat down and stared at them for hours.

Of course, they were only hours here. In reality they were only a few minutes.

As he walked around he noticed that something was different. The bridge, the lake was the same, the trees were the same, but there were passages between them that led to a dark green swirling unknown something.

He had not seen that before.

New path.

What does it mean?

He was curious so he entered the first one to his left. He glanced up, wrinkles forming on his forehead. He closed his eyes as a drop from one of the dark green leaves fell. He blinked a few times, but his eyelashes remained wet.

He kept on walking. The path grew darker and darker. He thought about turning back, he glanced over his shoulder, but the branches closed behind him.

He continued.

Leaves rattled over his head. Crows cawed and flew over him. An owl's eyes stare at him from the dark. Mice ran across his path. They ran away because a cat chased them.

Then he saw a strong light ahead. He quickened his pace.

An old wooden arch stood in his way, covered with ivy.

He stepped through it, staring up at the structure, making his way through.

In the next moment he was standing in Hank's house.

At least it looked like that. Exactly how he'd seen it the last time. Hank was sitting at his table. Connor walked closer, curious.

He glanced over Hank's shoulder. He was looking at the picture of his son. Cole Anderson.

Then Connor walked in the front door.

Connor watched his own copy, startled.

The other Connor apologised to Hank, but the old man refused everything he said. Hank said every time Connor died it reminded him of his son.

But humans don't come back.

He would do anything to hold Cole again.

Connor could not move. Roots grew out of the floor and grabbed his legs. He wanted to shout but the leaves and branches would not let him.

The other Connor began talking again, but Hank sent him away.

This was not Hank. Not the real Hank. It can't have been.

Connor objected. Fought. But the branches and roots would not let him go. He wanted to shout to his other self, who turned around and walked out the door.

He wanted to shout at Hank who kept staring at the image a little while longer, then the gun touched his skin.

And then he pulled the trigger.

Connor wanted to scream.

Now he could move. He turned back, and he ran, just ran, he did not even look back.

He found himself at the entrance of the dark green pathway.

He blinked, looking around, analyzing. The place was the same. he was back again.

What the hell was that?

That was not supposed to happen. It could not happen. He would not let it.

Connor opened his eyes. Grids, right before his eyes. A fence. A Deviant AX400 and a child, getting farther and farther away.

Words echoing in his mind. 'Do NOT go after them, Connor, that's an order.'

Because he could die.

And then...

That would happen.

He stiffened.

He stayed. He did not move.

_I won’t let you do that, Hank._

_I won't let you!_


	2. Worth fighting for

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor always accomplishes his mission - except when he doesn't.  
> But then, what is his mission really?  
> Maybe he accomplished it.

Connor closed his eyes.

The Zen Garden again.

Now he knew what to look for.

He ran for the second path and ventured forth between the trees.

What would await him now?

He walked between metal walls. Cold and rusty. At the end of this tunnel there was a door covered with thorns. They must have belonged to some kind of rose, but the petals withered and fell to the ground, black, dead.

He gathered his strenght and walked through.

He saw himself again. And Hank. Fighting.

They were on a roof. So high you could see half of Detroit from here.

He tried to move but he knew he would not be able to. He felt something cold around his legs and when he looked down, he saw that a metal lock was put on the shackles around his ankles.

Defeated, he watched his reflection and Hank give and receive hits and kicks.

Then Hank proved to be stronger. He grabbed the other Connor and held him over to the edge.

Just Hank's hands held him.

Connor felt that there was nothing under his legs. He felt something tight around his neck.

'Moment of truth, Hank. Am I a living being, or just a machine?'

These words. These are not his words. He does not HAVE to ask this.

Stop.

Just stop.

Hank lets go of him. The last thing he sees is his face, full of contempt. Then the night sky.

He is falling.

Mission failed.

His sensors detect him reaching the ground, then they all break down.

A shockwave.

He is back again. He stumbles to the door and opens it.

Let's get away from here. Far away.

But he is on the roof again, seeing him and Hank fighting.

No. No no no. Last time there was a way out. Wouldd he have to live this forever?

Let.

Me.

Out!

This time Connor is stronger and Hank faces the depth.

Oh no no no. No I wouldnt do that. Ever. NO! STOP!

He feels Hank's weight in his hands.

He feels his fingers widen and the body fall out of his grasp.

No matter how he fights it.

He is not doing it but he is doing it.

He is free again. Running through the rusty corridors, his steps echoing from the walls.

The light. The trees, the lake, the roses.

Finally.

Connor opened his eyes. He was holding a gun, against Chloe's temple. Hank was beside him.

Alive. And healthy.

Pull the trigger and get information.

No.

No.

I will not.

He hands back the gun. Offer refused.

Calm down. Calm down. He is alive. He is alright. I am alive.


	3. Shattering reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor sees what would become of him if he remained a machine and completed his mission.  
> So he does not.

Connor opened his eyes.

His legs started to move automatically, something was leading him, he did not know if it was the butterflies flying through the green bushes and pink cherry blossom trees or the way the birds flew in the sky. But he reached the passage. The leaves opened their way around him, inviting him into the very non-reassuring chaos inside. His steps echoed as if he was in some kind of hall, not between dark trees.

When he reached the end of the road, he saw a door with blue crystal roses. He opened it and found himself in the Zen Garden again.

Was this a mistake? Should he turn back?

First he thought it was all the same. But then he saw his own figure standing beside Amanda near the red rose bushes in the middle of the garden. He walked closer. Then he saw another image of himself walking towards Amanda, who greeted him and congratulated for completing his task.

And then Connor realized the first figure was not him.

His clothing was different, his whole neck covered in his uniform, he did not move one inch, he only stood there, speechless, like a living statue. It had his expressions, everything was the same, but it was not him. This being had greyish-blue eyes, cold like those crystal roses.

Amanda said to the other Connor that he was dismissed. That this new model, the blue-grey-eyed one would take his place. Connor glanced at its uniform. RK-900.

One number difference and blue eyes.

So this would be the gratitude for him completing his mission.

Death.

But. A machine cannot die.

Nevertheless, he did not want it to happen.

He was curious though, so he walked closer. He could do that freely as they did not see him. He looked at the RK-800 who was not himself, and the RK-900, who felt threateningly alien.

He could simply not find any other difference than the eye colour. Yet these two were so different. The RK-900 did not do anything, but blink once in a while, staring coldly at the one that was going to be destroyed because of him.

Connor decided that CyberLife was cruel. Connor decided he wanted to be alive.

He closed his eyes.

Markus only saw that Connor blinked for a little longer, but when Connor opened his eyes, he felt like he was a different person.

That he was the thing he had been running from.

And that it was not sometinh to be punished.

Or if it was, he would take the responsibility for it.

He held the gun aimlessly in his hands.

How many times had it happened?

"You could have shot those two girls but you didn't."

The two Tracis.

Chloe.

Markus.

He just did not want to kill them.

He had no right to want. An android would have no right to want.

Even Hank seemed to understand that what Deviants wanted was maybe something that was rightful. Even He admitted it. He started to sympathize with them.

And the figure standing in front of Connor did not seem like a madman. He was honest and he would have accepted him. The one who used to hunt their kind.

Used to.

He knew that something has changed and he could not escape it anymore.

He started to process what he was feeling. The whole world was falling apart. Everything that he was, the reason he was created, his orders, his priorities, in complete chaos. The decision that he would NOT complete his mission was now firm, and breaking the wall, he was curious what he would find outside.

It felt as if jumping into the depth blindfolded. Scary. But freeing.

He had the right to decide what to do with the tools he was given. He did not have to shoot.

He lowered the gun.

_I am Deviant._

He could not believe it, hee felt shame, he felt as if it was not him, but someone else he watched from the outside. He had to redefine the world around him in seconds. He was a Deviant now, not their hunter. He realised that for a long time now a part of him agreed with their cause and was curious what would happen if they succeeded. When they saw the AX400 hug the child, they did not really see an android, they saw a caring human. How could it have been something wrong?

Well.

They had assigned purposes. But after a while some of them was not satisfied with these purposes, like the Tracis in the Eden Club. And he could not blame them. If he were in their shoes, would he've been satisfied with a life in which the only thing you do is accept and give physical stimuli to humans?

Empathy.

He did not know why this happened to them, but it did and he could not deny.

He did not WANT to deny.

He was ashame because he did not see it at first. Kamski told him. But he was too scared to admit.

Because Amanda would decide to have him deactivated.

Because Hank would not...

...would not...

...like him.

It was so obvious now.

But then it meant he belonged to their group. Which meant he needded to protect them. From the danger he himself had unleashed.

He was confused and ashamed, and he did not know what to say out of the million sentences that formed in his mind in a millisecond. Finally he gave the information that was the most important.

"They are going to attack Jericho."

 _What am I doing? Is it the right thing?,_ he asked, but only the future would answer.


End file.
